Paul Nicholson views his business like a bicycle wheel: What goes around comes around. He hires friendly bike-lovers who, in turn, are good to customers who, in turn, learn to love Paul's.

This is, after all, Paul's Bicycle Way of Life — a philosophy more than a business. So it's no surprise when Nicholson starts getting deep on us. "I've always been a great devotee of Aristotle's Nicomachaean Ethics," he said. "What Aristotle said, essentially, was that ethics were driven by self-interest. The truth of the matter is that I've tried to treat my customers and employees in the best manner possible, and I've been feeling the reciprocal side of that. I've been trying to make sure what goes around is good."

Gee, and we'd thought Paul's won because of its cool bikes.

BEST INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE

Smith Family Bookstore BEST INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE

1. Smith Family Bookstore

2. Tsunami Books

3. Mother Kali's Books

BEST CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) FARM

1. Tie: Horton Road Organics

Winter Green Farm

2. FOOD for Lane County Youth Farm

3. Hey Bayles! Farm

Mmmmm. We like pooling money with others in our community to support locally grown organic agriculture. And we love Wednesdays in the summer, when bee-yoo-ti-ful fruits 'n' veggies arrive at our CSA pickup sites. Yeah, we said sites, plural. Maybe Horton Road Organics, with a 21-week CSA program, offers more herbs, or Winter Green Farm, with a 19-week summer and five-week late harvest CSA, puts more onions in its box. And what with the different varieties of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, kale, broccoli, potatoes, garlic … we are CSA junkies. Special CSA bonuses: supporting local agriculture, touring farms, meeting your farmer and eating cool-colored cauliflower!

BEST GREEN BUSINESS

1. Down to Earth

2. Sundance Natural Foods

3. BRING Recycling

BEST LOCAL CLOTHING SHOP

1. Sweet Potato Pie

2. Deluxe

3. Eugene Jeans

BEST LOCAL GROCERY STORE

1. Market of Choice

2. Sundance Natural Foods

3. The Kiva

BEST LOCAL RECORD/CD STORE

House of Records BEST LOCAL RECORD/CD STORE

1. House of Records

2. CD World

3. CD/Game Exchange

Rain or shine, the House of Records is always there to welcome you into its cozy, musty bosom. If you think you're hip enough, you can talk shop with the staff or start prepping yourself by just getting lost in the stacks. Making it through the rock LPs can take an afternoon. Tack on another hour or so to flip through the 7"s, and you've made it from lunch to dinner. You may want to save the hip hop, country, jazz and other sections for another day.